


Restraining Order

by SilverFliesInBlueSugar



Series: The Past Does Not Dictate The Future [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Gen, Hey Gabriel is trying his best, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not A Happy Ending, Past Abuse, Poor Nathalie Sancoeur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-22 01:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21066479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverFliesInBlueSugar/pseuds/SilverFliesInBlueSugar
Summary: Doing about 12 hours of work a day was bad enough. Having to filter out your parent's horrid messages every day doesn't make it easier.





	Restraining Order

Adrien sighed, flopping down in his bed. School had been called off due to a chemical leak in one of the science classrooms, so now he was stuck at home all day. Sure, he could still study, but he wasn't much in the mood.

Huffing, he looked longingly out of the wall-length windows. He could transform and just... _leave_, but what then? What would he do for the 5 hours spare he had?

He finally decided to just go ask Nathalie to book something, and walked out of him room, throwing Plagg a piece of camambert and spraying himself with deoderant before he left. No sense in smelling like cheese.

As he walked across the landing and down the large staircase, he paused as he heard a loud voice echoing off the marble and linoleum.

He crept toward the door where the sound was coming from, recognising it to be where Nathalie and his father worked. Normally he would assume the sound was his father being unnecessarily rude and one of his employees lashing back out over the phone on speaker or something, but the voice was distinctly feminine. Nathalie?

He pressed his ear to the door, despite feeling a little guilty for eavesdropping.

Curiosity killed the cat, and this cat had a life to spare out of his nine.

"What do you mean?! I haven't even spoken to you in years! Either of you!" Nathalie's voice shouted, and Adrien flinched. He had never heard her so upset before.

"No, and if you dare to try I'll call the police ... You can't do that. You have no legal or moral right to me or my decisions ... It isn't like that ... Of course not" he heard her sigh, before whoever was speaking to her over the phone seemed to say something that set her off.

"YOU" she spat, and there was so much venom in her tone that Adrien physically recoiled "Do NOT get to fucking say that to me. You do not get to threaten me, or control me. You never should have tried to, and I'm perfectly capable of getting a restraining order. Call me again and I'll have myself or my employer report you to the police. Have a good fucking day."

The phone was thrown across the room.

He yelped as it hit the door, jumping, and heard her ask "Who's there? Adrien?"

He shyly walked in, trying not to look at the now broken phone lying on the floor. "Um. Sorry for listening in, Nathalie. I just heard shouting and I was worried..."

She sighed but didn't seem angry. "It's fine. But you shouldn't in future, it's rude."

"Okay" he nodded easily, before his face became awash with concern. "Who was that? It sounded like someone was threatening you or something, from what you said... Is everything okay?"

She turned to her computer. "Just my parents. They apparently don't understand boundaries. It wasn't serious"

Adrien frowned slightly. "But... You were shouting! You said you would call the police, and you broke the phone dad gave you!" he looked pointedly at it. She winced.

"It really isn't any of your concern, Adrien"

He bit his lip. "...You don't have to tell me" he said after a moment. Her face looked relieved before he continued. "But can you tell dad? Because if someone really is saying they'll hurt you or something like that, he has lots of influence and all that..."

She huffed. "That feels like an abuse of power"

He frowned. "Not if you're in danger. Which I'm kinda convinced you are"

She chuckled, but there was no humour in it. "In not in danger. But if you're so worried, I'll see if Gab- Mr Agreste can help file me a restraining order. I don't have much time to go place one myself. Now, then." she changed the subject smoothly, meeting his eyes as she raised a brow. "Why are you here? It can't have been the yelling entirely, there is no way you heard me from your room"

"I didn't" he admitted. "I'm just getting restless without anything to do"

"Ah. Well there's a shoot coming up near the louvre that Gorilla could drive you to. You were extended an optional invitation but i hadn't accepted it yet"

"That sounds good. Will Gorilla take me there immediately?"

"Of course, he should just be in the main hall. I'll send a quick affirmation then" she began to type.

He backed out of the room, but paused as the door was halfway shut. "Nathalie?"

"Yes?"

"Please do something if you're actually being threatened. I hate the thought of you being hurt"

She smiled slightly. "Thank you, Adrien. Don't worry about it, i'm going to get it sorted. Have a nice time at your photo shoot"

"Ok. Bye!"

She tried not to think about how she would have to explain herself to Mr Agreste.

\---

"Adrien brought something to my attention earlier"

She tensed in her seat. "Oh?" 

"He said that you were being harassed by someone and might need my help for filing a lawsuit against them, and to get a restraining order"

She hid her face in her hands. "He said he would let me explain. That boy has no self control or patience"

He chuckled, but it was a little forced. He sounded concerned. "I will of course help you do those things, but if i may ask, who was it? If it was someone in the industry i could have them blacklisted within the hour. If it's someone here, with one tap i can have them fired"

She was slightly amused at just how ready he was to do this. Gabriel did always like exerting his power over anything and everything, especially if it was to help someone. It made him feel better about himself.

"Nothing like that, sir. It isn't that serious, just my parents" she realized too late that she didn't word it the way she had wanted to.

"Your _parents?_" he repeated in confusion. "Why on earth were they threatening you?"

She rather wished her hair was down so she could hide behind it. It was a tactic she had used a lot in school and college, and she sorely missed it. 

At least the bun was more professional looking.

He frowned when she didn't reply. "I can't exactly help you if i don't know the situation, Nathalie"

She huffed, trying to avoid looking at him, hating how her hands were beginning to tremble slightly. "My parents and i have a rather... Tumultuous relationship. We've never much gotten along. My father especially never semed to like me" her face was flushing in embarrassment as she spoke. She hated talking about this. "Recently, I've been getting a lot of calls from him. Her, too. Telling me to move back, that they'll find a way to get the rights to my bank account, that I'm their daughter and thus i have to obey them, etc" she shook her head. "I'm sick of it and it disrupts my work"

He paused to take the information in. "That's... Certainly a bad situation" he agreed. "Anything else? Judging by what Adrien said, you were rather distressed."

"...My father got on the phone and threatened me" she admitted. "It wasn't anything too severe, and i knew he couldn't do anything, physically at least. But it rubbed me the wrong way, considering..." she trailed off.

"Considering?"

"Nothing. I just want to get them out of my life" she said tiredly, typing back away at her email, barely focusing on the lines of words before her.

"Do you have proof of the things they've said, like text messages or recorded phone calls? You would need that sort of thing to file a restraining order" he warned her. She felt herself freeze.

"Ah. Well. Yes. But i don't know if I'm comfortable with showing others them" she grimaced. His brow furrowed.

"It would only be to me, so that i know what to say, and to the police. It wouldn't appear anywhere else. Is it really so bad?"

She didn't reply.

"Nathalie?"

"My work phone is broken, but i have the same number across my work and personal phones. So..." she shook her head and held her phone out. "Don't think differently of me. I don't want this to change anything"

His brow furrowed in concern, but he went into the text app and read.

**Last seen 3 days ago**

**Peré:** Ignore one more phone call and you'll regret it, young lady

**Peré:** Answer me. Now.

**Nathalie:** Stop messaging my number. I will block it. I am busy.

**Peré:** Must be hard work fucking your boss

**Peré:** Your mother has been trying to contact you for months and you ignore all of it, you ungrateful spoilt brat.

**Nathalie:** I am 26 with a house and a job that goes well into the night. You're jobless and stay at home all day. What would you know about how much time i have?

**Peré:** Don't get fucking mouthy with me

**Peré:** You owe this to us, at least. Come back for a talk. 

**Nathalie:** I haven't visited you in years. What makes you think I'll change my mind now. And no i will not come back to hear both of you tell me how to live my life. You're disturbingly controlling.

**Peré:** That's the kind of talk that gets you hurt.

**Peré:** Do you think you're safe over there, or that you've somehow surpassed or left us behind?

**Peré:** You fake cry a lot in our calls, but if you keep being bitchy I'll give you something to really cry about

**Nathalie:** Stop messaging.

**Peré:** Cunt.

He put the phone down. There was more, but he didn't want to read it.

Nathalie just looked tired. "It's been like that for months. Texts and calls like that. And I'm sick of it"

"...Understandably so" Gabriel finally managed. He was stunned. "Well that's definitely cause for a restraining order"

She nodded silently, holding out her hand. He gave her her phone back, at a loss for words.

She grimaced at his expression. "I asked you not to see me differently, sir..."

"I..." he frowned. "I certainly don't think any less of you. But i was not expecting what i read."

"It's not that severe. It just gets repetitive. I'm used to it, but i can't abide by it disturbing my work" she said flatly, tone clipped. He was bewildered.

"Not that severe? At the very least, your father sounds borderline emotionally abusive."

She recoiled at the last word, and the words escaped her mouth before she could stop them. It was automatic.

"It isn't abuse!" she snapped, flinching, before biting her lip so hard it bled.

Words she had said so many times, over so many years, words that she had perfected by 13. The tilt of the head, the innocent widening of the eyes, the calm yet surprised tone. Sound like it's the first time you've heard someone ask. Sound shocked, like it's a silly assumption. Sound calm, like you're not shaken up.

Lie lie lie lie lie.

It always worked.

But evidently not this time.

He was looking at her like he had never seen her before, face pale and eyes wide. He looked like he was going to be sick.

"Nathalie. Have they... Done anything beyond these insults?"

She stood up sharply, not looking him in the eye. "I would like to take some time off"

"_Nathalie._"

She ground her teeth even as her eyes burned with tears that she wouldn't allow to fall. "Sir. Please."

There was a moment of silence as she eyed the door.

"I'm sorry." he managed.

She blinked frantically to push away the wetness she knew was rising. She tried to force her body to relax. "It's not your fault. I just snapped for... No reason. I don't know why i said that"

There was something unsteady about his voice when he next spoke. "Say the word and i can get them imprisoned for the rest of their lives."

Her eyes widened. "That- that isn't necessary, sir. Nothing has... Happened-" she winced "-at least physically, for at least 8 years. And regardless, I'm over it. The most i get now is texts like those"

"Even if it were just those texts, it would still be cruel. Especially if they've always been this way" he hissed. "But if they had been hurting you-"

"I moved out when i was 18, and I've only visited 3 times in the 8 years between then and now" Nathalie cut in sharply. "It's in the past and i would like it to stay there"

"...I will get you that restraining order by the end of the day. With evidence and some money... I wish you had mentioned this when it first began. The texts."

The look she gave him was dry and tired. "I'm going home. Have a nice day sir."

She closed the door behind her before she could hear his reply.


End file.
